


Young... Love (?)

by eveningstar



Category: A3! (Video Game)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-27
Updated: 2018-09-27
Packaged: 2019-07-18 03:22:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16109732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eveningstar/pseuds/eveningstar
Summary: Why on earth had Izumi ever thought filling Mankai Company with teenage boys was a good idea?





	Young... Love (?)

**Author's Note:**

> Short, shallow, and lacking in any kind of real ending because I rushed so I could post it on Juza’s birthday (despite the fic having zero birthday content).

Izumi put her head in her hands. Why on _earth_ had she ever thought filling Mankai Company with teenage boys was a good idea? Sure, she hadn’t really been in a position to be picky at the time, and even if she had, she still wasn’t sure she would have been able to resist Juza’s earnest plea… But if she’d known how many of her waking hours were going to be spent battling the tide of teenage hormones, she would have at least thought a little harder. 

She figured Juza and Banri must have hooked up about two weeks ago. Most likely - though, of course, she couldn't say for sure - on the day when no one saw either of them until Juza appeared in the kitchen in the early afternoon, still in his pyjamas, took two bottles of water and some onigiri and went back to his room in silence. That evening, after Taichi called them many, many times, they had eventually come to dinner, but Juza wouldn’t look anyone in the eyes and Banri seemed slightly dazed and was dressed in a turtleneck despite the warm weather.

At the time, she had rejoiced. She’d thought the days before that were impossible, when the dam seemed likely to burst at any second. They were both so wound up, constantly in each other’s personal space, trying to push each other over the edge.

Banri would sit in the living room for hours, playing on his phone and doing nothing in particular, until the second Juza walked into the kitchen to get a plate of scones, and then he apparently suddenly needed to make coffee right then, and pressed himself against Juza at every possible opportunity, pushing him into the counter as he reached around for his cup from behind, instead of just taking it from the side, complaining loudly the whole time that Juza was too big and took up too much space. When he started all but grinding against Juza, claiming he was blocking the cutlery drawer, Juza shook him off and for a second it seemed like he was going to press Banri against the fridge himself, but he stopped when he saw the look of vicious triumph on Banri’s face. He turned, and missed the flash of real disappointment before Banri kicked his ankle, ordering him to get out of the damn way.

Then Juza would retaliate, forgoing the dining table to sit down next to Banri on the sofa, taking up as of it as he could and pressing Banri into the corner. When Banri put up a not entirely unreasonable protest, Juza would growl at him to shut up because he was disturbing everyone’s peace. Banri would, surprisingly, oblige, sulkily sipping his coffee with a pinkish tinge to his cheeks, until he hit on a plan for revenge and swung his legs up into Juza’s lap. He’d wriggle around, blatantly rubbing his thighs against Juza's crotch while complaining about that his thighs were too hard and uncomfortable. Juza would stoically endure this for a few minutes, face tight, then push Banri’s legs off and remove himself quickly in the direction of the bathrooms. Banri would make a show of delighting in his victory, even as he pulled the cushion Juza had been leaning against into his lap.

Izumi had thought she would go mad if she'd had to deal with that for much longer. She had been wrong. That was a peaceful oasis of serenity compared to what it was like now.

The heat between them was palpable and constant, and it seemed to take sustained effort from both of them to keep their hands off of each other. Effort that they failed to keep up as soon as they were alone - Izumi had already lost count of the times and places she and rounded a corner and been suddenly met with Juza pressing Banri up against a wall or Banri straddling Juza on a chair, and it seemed she wasn’t the only one.

“Money-grubber yakuza!” Yuki slammed the door of the living room open, still in his pyjamas and a face mask. “Can’t you do something about those damn yankees? They can’t even wash their faces without acting like a couple of gorillas in heat!”

“Ah!” Muku exclaimed. “I think it’s because Ju-chan’s started shaving, but after he cut himself, sometimes Banri-san does it for him… I saw it the other day, Banri-san was being so confident and gentle and looked so cool, it was just like in volume two, page sixty-four of _Three’s Company ~ A Corporate Love Triangle_ , when the hero’s broken his arm and - ”

“I don’t care, I don’t want to see it before breakfast!”

Yuki stormed out of the kitchen, leaving an awkward silence in his wake.

“What should we do? I don’t think handcuffing them together is going to help this time,” Omi said with a laugh. Sakyo glowered as he put his paper down.

It wasn’t like they hadn’t tried! Izumi had been racking her brain for some way to get them under control. She’d threatened them with extra cleaning duties, then assigned said extra cleaning duties when threats hadn’t stopped them, then had to re-assign the cleaning duties to two separate areas after she found them making out in the laundry, then had Sakyo scold them for being late to rehearsal (judging by their appearance, they’d been trying to make up for the time they'd lost to the extra cleaning duties), then when they did come to rehearsal on time, they seemed to be incapable of performing a single etude that was fit for family audiences, and when separated, they couldn’t focus because one would be watching the other with such hunger in his eyes that he was all but licking his lips.

At least Juza had the decency to be embarrassed, whereas every scolding only seemed to encourage Banri, probably because of Juza’s embarrassment. The shift in their relationship had made him no less interested in provoking Juza, although presumably no longer in the hopes of starting a fist fight.

Izumi looked to Sakyo hopelessly.

“Do you have any more ideas?”

“I’m not used to dealing with this age group,” Sakyo sighed. It had been much easier to deal with Bon. Settsu would laugh in his face if he tried to tell him to wait until marriage. Still, something had to be done, and soon. Even with the laundry detergent watered down, the sudden spike in frequency with which those two were washing their sheets was going to start affecting the budget.

"Can we just make them go away on a honeymoon or something until they calm down?" Tsuzuru grumbled. He seemed particularly unimpressed by this turn in the two delinquents' relationship. Itaru had loudly speculated that he was just jealous that Banri was getting more sex than he was. 

"How long do you think it would take?" asked Izumi. It seemed unlikely that Sakyo-san would approve the expense, but by this point, she was willing to pay it herself it meant she could live without the fear of walking in on Banri on his knees... again. 

"With those two?" said Omi. "A few years, at least."

They fell into silence, until one by one, their attention shifted to the sixth person at the table, who was quietly sipping his tea with detached amusement.

Once certain that all eyes were on him, Azuma smiled and set down his tea cup.

"I think the solution is rather obvious, don't you?"

Sakyo scowled.

"Obviously we don't, Yukishiro, so if you'd be so good as to enlighten us -"

Izumi raised her hand as though asking a question of the teacher in class.

"Does Muku-kun need to leave the room before you continue?"

"Director-san!" The boy in question interjected, clearly horrified at the thought of being left out. 

"No, it's all right, Director. I'll just have a chat with our young - what did Yuki call them? - gorillas? Individually, and preferably without the other knowing about it, if possible."

"Azuma-san, if you can make them stop, my lips are sealed."

\---

A week later, whatever Azuma had said to them seemed to have worked. Though it still obviously took them great physical effort to not throw each other against a wall constantly, they were much more committed to making said effort. Banri still made token insults in Juza's direction, but didn't push it when Juza ignored him. Juza started facing away from Banri during stretches, and would study his script intently when Banri was working on his action choreography. Izumi had gotten the peace she wanted, and it was honestly a little unnerving. 

Although the second Izumi dismissed them after rehearsal, they vanished. 

Itaru complained that Banri never came over to play games any more, and Tasuku mentioned that Juza hadn't come running with him in weeks, but they managed to get themselves to mealtimes most of the time, and when they didn't, Omi would quietly leave a couple of plates wrapped in plastic in the fridge. 

A few days later, when Azuma had summoned the grown-ups to 206 to join him for some wine he had been gifted, Izumi, emboldened by alcohol, gave in to her curiosity and asked Azuma what he had said to the boys to make them so well-behaved at last. Azuma smiled at her teasingly. 

"Are you sure you want to know, Director?"

Suddenly she wasn't so sure, but Azuma continued anyway.

"I just reminded Juza that it's better to reward good behaviour than punish bad," he said simply, as though advising teenagers on their sex lives was an everyday occurrence of no particular note, "And to make sure he rewards with what the other party wants. And I told Banri that while it can be fun to push someone into giving you what you want, it's much more satisfying to hold back until they're desperate to give it you."

Izumi considered this.

"So, instead of trying to get a rise out of Juza-kun -" she glared at Azuma's stifled laugh, " _not like that_ -"

"Director, it's exactly like that, and you know it."

"I - instead of try to _provoke Juza-kun into a reaction_ , Banri-kun's attempting to drive him to," she made an incredibly vague hand gesture that would be intended to indicate 'lose control and roughly fuck him against a wall since that's apparently what Settsu "Easy Mode" Banri is into' if she let herself think about it in that much depth, "by ignoring him, and Juza-kun's only going to," she made the same hand gesture, "when Banri doesn't harrass him..."

"So when Juza," Azuma copied Izumi's hand gesture with a knowing smile, "he thinks Banri's tried to earn it by being good and leaving him alone, and Banri thinks it's because he's driven Juza crazy by ignoring him."

Izumi's eyes widened as she realised the full depth of genius behind Azuma's plan.

"After all," Azuma smiled. "It boils down to the same thing - if Banri leaves Juza alone during the day, then that night he gets," the hand gesture was becoming a parody of itself. "They just need two different reasons in order to let their pride allow it." 

"Azuma-san..." whispered Izumi in awe, "I’m so glad you’re using your powers for good."

”For now, at least.” 


End file.
